Memphis upsets FSU at Tennis Championships

TUSCALOOSA | The Memphis Tigers upset the Florida State Seminoles on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships.

By Danielle WalkerSpecial to The Tuscaloosa News

TUSCALOOSA | The Memphis Tigers upset the Florida State Seminoles on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships. The match was played inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility due to inclement weather.No. 33 Memphis knocked off the 21st-ranked Seminoles, 4-1.“Florida State is a good, solid team, but we came out and worked hard,” Memphis’ Tiffany Welcher said.Welcher, a graduate student at Memphis, played for Alabama during her undergraduate years before transferring.“I played at Alabama for four years, got injured and took two years off, then came to Memphis,” Welcher said. One of Welcher’s former UA coaches came up to congratulate her after the match, which she won, 6-4, 6-1, over FSU’s Francesca Segarelli.Memphis will face Alabama today in the second round.“We’ve already played them this season, so we got the awkwardness out of the way already,” Welcher said.Alabama beat the Tigers, 4-0, in January.Welcher and doubles partner, Alyssa Hibberd, defeated Segarelli and Daneika Borthwick, 8-5.“We made a statement from the first match,” Memphis’ Courtney Collins said.Collins, the No. 55 singles player in the nation, defeated the Seminoles’ Daneika Borthwick 6-3, 6-2, to close out the win for the Tigers.“This was our first year in the tournament so we are excited. We want to go far,” Collins said. “It was a great matchup and our coach prepared us. We played well and had fun.”The Tigers plan to go into the match against Alabama with the same mentality, to work hard and have fun.“We’ve already played Alabama and we’re comfortable with the atmosphere,” Collins said, “We’re so excited to play.”

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